KIMBERLEE KRUESIAssociated PressOCTOBER 23, 2017 3:46 PM

BOISE, IDAHO"Idaho is joining a handful of states where health advocates are hoping to bypass lawmakers who have refused to expand Medicaid and take the issue directly to voters through a ballot initiative.

"It seemed like a time for change," Luke Mayville, co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, a group leading the ballot initiative effort, said Monday.

"We wanted to get involved in the 2018 election and Medicaid expansion was a no-brainer."

Reclaim Idaho submitted the ballot initiative paperwork to the secretary of state's office last week. The proposal must now be vetted by the attorney general's office before supporters can start collecting signatures to get it on the 2018 November ballot.

The group would need at least 48,000 signatures to make the ballot.

The battle over whether to expand Medicaid has traditionally taken place inside state legislatures since former President Barack Obama's health care reform law was enacted in 2010. But after years of opposition from Republican state lawmakers, activists are seeking a new approach.

Voters in Maine will decide Nov. 7 whether to approve a referendum requiring the state to apply for Medicaid expansion for adults under 65 with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. And last month, health care groups in Utah announced they would also seek a ballot initiative to expand Medicaid.

So far, no state has successfully expanded Medicaid eligibility through a ballot initiative. Montana supporters attempted to do so in 2014, but they failed to collect enough valid signatures from registered voters.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. government pays at least 90 percent of the cost of expanding Medicaid while states picked up the rest. In total, 31 states have expanded their program...."

This website was paid for by Reclaim Idaho, Garrett Strizich, Treasurer1867 Lignite Road, Sagle, Idaho, 83860A copy of Reclaim Idaho's reports filed with the Idaho Secretary of State can be obtained from www.sos.idaho.gov.